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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 1:3

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Grace [be] to you and peace from God the Father, and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ,

3. Grace be to you Christ ] “These two words, grace and peace, comprehend in them whatsoever belongeth to Christianity. Grace releaseth sin, and peace maketh the conscience quiet.” Luther. We have here another indirect, but clear proof of the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is with the Eternal Father the source and giver of grace and peace, and therefore He is “the God of all grace” (1Pe 5:10), and “the God of Peace” (Heb 13:20).

A similar form of salutation occurs 1Th 1:1, and elsewhere.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Grace be unto you … – This is the usual apostolic salutation, imploring for them the blessing of God. See it fully explained in the notes at Rom 1:7.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Gal 1:3

Grace be to you and peace.

St. Pauls salutation

Here is the salutation, wherein he wishes them Gods gracious favour and goodwill, whereby He is well-pleased with the elect, in and for Christ (Rom 3:24), and peace; i.e.

1. Peace of conscience, and with God (Rom 5:1).

2. Peace with the creatures, as with the angels (Col 1:20); with the godly (Isa 11:9); with ourselves, all within us being conformed to the rule of the renewed mind (Rom 8:1); and in some respects with our enemies (Pro 16:7); and with the beasts of the field (Hos 2:18).

3. Prosperity and good success (Psa 122:7). All which he seeks from God the Father as the fountain of grace, and from Jesus Christ as the conduit or pipe to convey grace from the Father unto us (Joh 1:16). (James Fergusson.)

The manner of obtaining grace and peace

1. Gods gracious favour and goodwill is to be sought by us in the first place, whether for ourselves (Psa 4:6) or others. All things are mercy to the man who has obtained that mercy.

2. Peace also is to be sought–after grace, not before it. Peace without grace is no peace (Isa 57:21).

3. Grace and peace are such as we cannot acquire unto ourselves by our own industry or pains: they come from God, are to be sought from Him, and His blessing is more to be depended upon for attaining of anything which comes under the compass of grace and peace, than our own wisdom, industry, or diligence.

4. Whatever favour we seek from God, we are to seek it also from Jesus Christ as mediator; for He has purchased it (Eph 1:7). He is appointed Lord of His own purchase, and there is no coming to, or meeting with, the Father but in Him (Joh 14:6).

5. They to whom grace and peace belong, are such as acknowledge Jesus for their Lord to command and rule them, and do yield subjection to Him in their heart and life. (James Fergusson. )

Grace and peace

Grace releases sin, and peace makes the conscience quiet. The two friends that torment us are sin and conscience. But Christ has vanquished these two monsters, and trodden them under foot, both in this world and in the world to come. This the world does not know, and therefore it can teach no certainty of the overcoming of sin, conscience, and death. Only Christians have this kind of doctrine, and are exercised and armed with it, to get victory against sin, despair, and everlasting death. And it is a kind of doctrine, neither proceeding of freewill, nor invented by the reason or wisdom of man, but given from above. Moreover, these two words, grace and peace, do contain in them the whole sum of Christianity. Grace contains the remission of sins; peace, a quiet and joyful conscience. But peace of conscience can never be had, unless sin be first forgiven. But sin is not forgiven for the fulfilling of the law: for no man is able to satisfy the law. But the law rather shows sin, accuses and terrifies the conscience, declares the wrath of God, and drives to desperation. Much less is sin taken away by the works and inventions of men, as wicked worshippings, strange religions, vows, and pilgrimages. Finally, there is no work that can take away sin, but sin is rather increased by works. For the justiciaries and meritmongers, the more they labour and sweat to bring themselves out of sin, the deeper they are plunged therein. For there is no means to take away sin, but grace alone. Therefore Paul, in all the greetings of his Epistle, sets grace and peace against sin and an evil conscience. (Luther.)

Heavenly blessings alone avail

The apostle fitly distinguishes this grace and peace from all other kinds of grace and peace whatsoever. He wishes to the Galatians grace and peace, not from the emperor or kings and princes, for those do commonly persecute the godly, and rise up against the Lord and Christ but from God our Father: which is as much as to say, he wished them a heavenly peace. The peace of the world grants nothing but the peace of our goods and bodies. So the grace or favour of the world gives us leave to enjoy our goods, and casts us not out of our possessions. But in affliction, and in the hour of death, the grace and favour of the world cannot help us; they cannot deliver us from affliction, despair, and death. But when the grace and peace of God are in the heart, then is man strong, so that he can neither be cast down with adversity, nor puffed up with prosperity, but walketh on plainly, and keepeth the highway. For he taketh heart and courage in the victory of Christs death: and the confidence thereof beginneth to reign in his conscience over sin and death; because, through Him, he hath assured forgiveness of his sins: which, after he has once obtained, his conscience is at rest, and by the word of grace is comforted. (Luther.)

Pauls customary greeting

A Greek and Hebrew salutation, expressing the apostles best wish.

I. Grace. A Greek thought Christianized. Takes the conception of beauty of form, gesture, tone, into the spiritual realm. As here used–

1. It is to be regarded as the attitude of God in Christ towards men. The Divine pity, gentleness, favour; the bearing of a condescending, forgiving, loving God.

2. It is to be possessed as the spirit of a Christian. Grace of life. Moral beauty. The indwelling in Christian character of all that the Greeks conceived in their Three Graces.

II. Peace. May include–

1. Freedom from persecution–a great desideratum.

2. Absence of internal dissention–main purpose of this letter.

3. Inward calm and quiet confidence in God–ideal peace. The wish of Paul the gift of Jesus. (U. R. Thomas.)

I. The eternal love of God as it sends the Redeemer for mans salvation is Grace.

II. The fruit of grace flowing from God through Christ is PEACE.

1. Sometimes mercy is the channel through which grace becomes peace when the invocation is addressed to an individual (1Ti 1:16 cf. verse 2).

2. For the Church it is enough that grace in heaven has peace as its counterpart on earth. It is

(1) reconciliation with God;

(2) the tranquil harmony of all the faculties of the soul;

(3) the fellowship of brotherly love;

(4) victory in the conflict with evil;

(5) the earnest of everlasting rest. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)

I. A Formula. The heathen commenced their letters with Health! The apostle wished his readers something higher than health or happiness, so he commences Grace and peace.

II. A benediction. But how in the case of those who rejected grace, or, by unbelief, forfeited peace? In the same way as the minister declares absolution, which is lost if a man rejects it. He has done what he could to show that in Christ there is full absolution for the sinner if he will take it. (F. W. Robertson.)

Peace from God

The child frightened in his play runs to seek his mother. She takes him upon her lap, and presses his head to her bosom; and, with tenderest words of love, she looks down upon him, and smoothes his hair, and kisses his cheek, and wipes away his tears. And then, in a low and gentle voice, she sings some sweet descant, some lullaby of love; and the fear fades out from his face, and a smile of satisfaction plays over it, and at length his eyes close, and he sleeps in the deep depths and delights of peace. God Almighty is the mother, and the soul is the tired child; and He folds it in His arms and dispels its fear, and lulls it to repose, saying, Sleep, my darling, sleep! It is I who watch thee. He giveth His beloved sleep. The mothers arms encircle but one; but God clasps every yearning soul to His bosom, and gives to it the peace which passeth understanding, beyond the reach of care or storm. (H. W. Beecher.)

Peace through Christ

The tree of peace strikes its roots into the crevices of the everlasting rock. It grows securely from that rock, and casts out its cool shadow in the sunshine, and makes sweet music in the storm; and is to the believer as the shadow of a great rock and fruit of refreshment in a weary and parched land. (Dr. Cumming.)

Peace experienced

I have read that a soldier, dying in the Crimea, requested to have the passage read to him, Peace I leave with you, etc. When it was done, he said, I have that peace. I am going to that Saviour. God is with me: I want no more, and expired.

The pastors prayer

I. The blessings desired–their nature–connexion, grace may exist without peace, but not peace without grace; yet peace flows from grace.

II. Their source–God the Father is the fountain of all grace–Christ is the medium of communication.

III. Their supply–free–sufficient for all–constant–inexhaustible. (J. Lyth.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. Grace be to you, &c.] See Clarke on Ro 1:7.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

A common, as well as religious and Christian, form of salutation; Pauls mark in every Epistle, and used by him without any variation, (except in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, where he only adds mercy &c.), the want of which, as also of his name, offers some grounds to doubt whether he wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. Paul had used it in the beginning of his Epistle to the Romans, and both the Epistles to the Corinthians: see the notes on Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2. It teaches us, in our common discourses, whether epistolary or otherwise, to speak to our friends like Christians, who understand and believe that the grace, mercy, and peace from God, are the most desirable good things.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. from . . . fromOmit the second “from.” The Greek joins Godthe Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in closet union, by there beingbut the one preposition.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Grace to be you,…. After the inscription above, in which the writer of the epistle, and the persons joined to him, are described, and the churches to whom it is written, follows the salutation in these words, and which is common to all the epistles of this apostle; of the sense of which, [See comments on Ro 1:7]. The Alexandrian copy reads, “from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ”; and the Ethiopic version reads, “our Father”.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Grace to you and peace ( ). As in I Thess., II Thess., I Cor., II Cor. (already written) and in all the later Epistles save that in I and II Timothy “mercy” is added. But this customary salutation (see on 1Th 1:1) is not a perfunctory thing with Paul. He uses it here even when he has so much fault to find just as he did in I and II Corinthians.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Grace to you, etc. See on 1Th 1:1. He will not withhold the wish for the divine grace and peace even from those whom he is about to upbraid.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Grace be to you and peace,” (charis humin kai eirene) “Grace (be) to you all and peace;” This is the apostolic blessing which implores the life-giving, quickening, and sustaining power of the spirit to cause grace and peace to abide.

2) “From God the Father,” (apo theou patros hemon) “From God our Father;” having their origin in, from the source of God, our Father, not from or thru the works, forms, or rituals, and ceremonies of the law.

3) “And from our Lord Jesus Christ,” (kai kuriou lesou Christou) “and (our) Lord Jesus Christ.” Here both the Father and the Son are identified in cooperation in effecting man’s redemption.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

3. Grace be to you and peace. This form of salutation, which occurred in the other epistles, has received an explanation, to which I still adhere. Paul wishes for the Galatians a state of friendship with God, and, along with it, all good things; for the favor of God is the source from which we derive every kind of prosperity. He presents both petitions to Christ, as well as to the Father; because without Christ neither grace, nor any real prosperity, can be obtained.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

c) Salutation Gal. 1:3-5

TEXT 1:35

(3) Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, (4) who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father: (5) to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PARAPHRASE 1:35

3 We wish grace to you, and happiness from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the Father dispenses his blessings to men.
4 Because he gave himself to death for our sins, that he might deliver us from the bad principles, and practices, and punishment of this present evil age, agreeably to the will of our God and Father, who determined to save us by the death of his son.
5 To whom, for that unspeakable favour, be ascribed by angels and men, honour and praise, through all eternity. Amen.

COMMENT 1:3

Grace to you

Favor to you is a single greeting stating that he was writing a friendly letter.

The grace is from God, or else Paul, a Jew, would not have had favor toward these indifferent Gentiles.

peace from God

Salaam (peace) is a typical oriental greeting, even today.

Real peace comes only through God and Christ.

For he is our peace . . . Eph. 2:14

And he came and preached peace to you that were afar off, and peace to them that were nigh. Eph. 2:17

This peace is not from the Emperor, or from kings, or from governors, but from God the Father.

Peace differs from grace in that:

Grace remits sin; peace quiets the conscience.

Grace involves remission; peace makes a happy conscience.

Grace is Gods favor; peace dispels fear.

and from our Lord Jesus Christ

One can not be of Jewish faith and have the favor of God and Christ.

The grace and peace of Christ is in the picture.

PEACE FROM GOD 1:3

The peace greeting is characteristic of Paul. Peace is from God. There is no other way.
Our age is characterized by the invention of innumerable devices to make us feel good without being good, to banish evil without quitting, to get the gifts of God without the need of God. As in the day of Jeremiah we have many false prophets who cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Too many people are trying to get adjusted when they need to get converted. They are going to psychiatrists to have their sins explained when they need to come to God to have them forgiven.
Peace is really a by-product of righteous living.
Righteousness first; after that, peace. Will we ever learn it? It must be a great burden on the heart of God to listen to prayers for peace prayed by people who will not walk in the ways of peace. God cant save us from war except as He saves us from our sins. If you want to find peace get in Christ by grace, through faithpeace then comes as naturally as breathing. It is peace in the midst of storm.
The world can not have peace without first living the life for the Prince of Peace.
The Bible promises no peace to the transgressor. There is no peace so long as conflict is in the heart. There is no radiance without rightness, no peace of mind until there is peace with God. Dont pray for peace, but for rightness of heart. Pray not for peace, but for birth from above. Peace is the fruit of reconciliation . . . being made right with God.

GODS WONDERFUL GRACE 1:3

The subject of Gods grace is introduced early in the book. Men need the mercy and grace of God to escape condemnation.
Condemnation is the exact opposite of justification. Since the latter means to declare one guiltless, the other means that one has heard the sentence Guilty. He is amenable to punishment and subject to death. One cannot be esteemed as guilty and guiltless at the same time, so those who are justified by faith and have gained access to grace are not under condemnation. There is no guilt assessed against them. They are free! That is grace beyond human understanding.

Gods act of grace is out of all proportion to Adams wrong doing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:15)

The problem in Galatia was the legalism of false teachers. They wanted to place Christians under the law, or the old covenant.
A legalist must have a law or he cannot survive. He breathes law like the human body breathes oxygen. If God provides no law, he will take what God has provided and convert it into law.
The Galatians were bewitched by law observers.
The problem is that legalists always exercise selectivity. They choose some features of the law to which they willingly submit, while ignoring others. But those which they choose then become the criteria of righteousness. To these men must conform even though they utterly neglect other valid and vital provisions of Gods will.
Men who live and walk by law seldom have any idea of the restraint of perfect love. There must be a whip to crack. There must be threats issued and intimidation involved.
Law is off the throne and Jesus is King. The transfiguration scene settled who was to be heededMoses . . . or the Law.

WORD STUDY 1:3

Grace (charisKAR iss) is in general usage that which causes pleasure or delight. In the doer of grace, it is the friendly disposition which brings happiness to others. In the receiver of grace, it is the sense of gratitude. The word is surrounded with happiness, warmth, and delight.

This aspect of delight must not be lost when we move to the New Testament, and define grace as unmerited favor. God not only gave salvation when we did not deserve it, but also was smiling when He did it!

Every epistle signed by Paul uses this majestic word in both the opening and the closing words.
One additional feature of charis in New Testament usage should be noted. When grace is given, there is always responsibility attached. In fact, Paul could even point to his job assignment as an apostle as to me this grace was given (Eph. 3:8).

Peace (eireneeye RAY nay) means absence of alienation or estrangement in Greek. It also has a rich background in Hebrew, where it means total well-being. (See further comments on Gal. 5:22)

The customary Hebrew greeting was shalom, peace. The standard Greek greeting was chairein (KY rine) rejoice. Paul modified this slightly into the Christian charis, grace. By combining these terms in the opening of every epistle, Paul was greeting both Greek and Jew in the family of God. The main thrust of his whole ministry was to usher in the Greek along with the Jew into fellowship in Christ (Eph. 3:4-10).

The full force of Lord (kuriosKUR ee oss) is not appreciated by English-speaking people. Perhaps if we trace the word through its history and development, it will help.

The kurios was originally the owner of a piece of property. Next, the kurios was the owner and master of a slave. When the Greek mystery religions began to develop, kurios was used in reference to the deity they worshipped. To this point, then, the kurios was recognized as owner, obeyed as master, and honored as a god.

What happened next had tremendous impact on the word. When the translators of the Old Testament encountered the divine name YHWH, they faced a problem. No one knew how to pronounce the sacred name, since the vowels were omitted. There was no way to transliterate the name from Hebrew into Greek, letter by letter. The solution was to translate YHWH as kurios! Thus, every time a Jew saw the word kurios, he thought of God Himself.

In light of all this, just think what a momentous confession it was to declare, Jesus Christ is Lord (Php. 2:11).

COMMENT 1:4

who gave himself for our sins

He gave:

Not gold, not a paschal lamb, not an angel, but self.

Not a moral code, nor a new political scheme, but self.

He could have sent twelve legions of angels. Mat. 26:53

He gave Himself humbly. Php. 2:5-8

He gave Himself by the laws of Sacrifice, Ransom, and Justice.

Note the temptations; observe Gethsemane.

from our sins

He did not give Himself for a crown, a kingdom, or our goodness, but for our sins.

Sin is not maladjustment, but terrible transgression. It means missing the mark.

They are not small and insignificant, but mountainous.

We are not good moral men but sinners.

Hamartia, one of the Greek words for sins, catches all of us.

that he might deliver us

Man is lost; he does need saving; he does need help from God.

He is a slave.

He is a captive.

Too many people are not interested in salvations delivery because they do not feel there is anything to be delivered from, but there is.

Creatures without reason . . . to be taken and destroyed. 2Pe. 2:12

elements shall be dissolved . . . 2Pe. 3:8-11

. . . they were judged every man according to their works. Rev. 20:13

. . . this is the second death, even the lake of fire. Gal. 1:14

. . . and if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. Gal. 1:15

Joh. 3:14-16

. . . the wrath of God . . . Rom. 5:9

. . . who delivered us from the wrath to come. 1Th. 1:10

from this present evil world

Even our nation, so-called Christian America, is evil.

Hear the curses on the night air.

Listen to the vileness in the shop.

Check the lists of robberies, murders, and adulteries.

Watch the gambling.

Look at the abused little children.

This evil world will be destroyed and a new heaven and a new earth created. 2Pe. 3:8-13; Rev. 21:1

according to the will of God

Note these scriptures:

1Jn. 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Php. 2:5-11 indicates the will of Christ.

Gethsemane indicates the will of Christ.

The will of God is responsible for salvation for the righteous and punishment for the wicked.

our God and Father

The Fatherhood of God is for both Christ and man.

Christ said to Mary Magdalene, Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and unto my God and your God. Joh. 20:17

Pray ye our Father, are the Lords words in Mat. 6:9.

A Father loves

A Father provides

A Father protects

A Father gives

The will of God and Christs will are in accord.

THE CHURCH IS A HOLY PEOPLE 1:4

Christians are called out of ungodliness to be a separated and sanctified people. Christians in Pauls day, called out of heathenism, were acquainted with evil, even in their forms of pagan worship. In Gal. 1:4 of this chapter, the Galatians are informed that they are called to be holy and blameless.

The biblical demand for holiness is insistent: You shall be holy for I am holy (Lev. 11:44-45; Lev. 19:2; Lev. 20:7; 1Pe. 1:15-16). Says Paul, Christ sanctifies the Church that it may be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish Eph. 5:27.

This holiness is a sharing of the divine nature (2Pe. 1:4). It is the fruit of the Spirits dwelling and acting, not only within the individual believer, but also within the redeemed community. It is an aspect of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Human personality and the Christian community were made to be indwelt by the Spirit of God, and they reach their potential only when they are.

OUR SINS 1:4

Millions of people are indulging in situation ethics rather than repenting from sin.

If a man will really study the Word of God and situation ethics he will find it impossible to ignore Gal. 5:16-21 with its condemnation of specified works of the flesh: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such.

The Bible is avoided by those who do not want to avoid sin.
Situation ethics declares that there are situations when the works of the flesh are fully acceptable. The new version might read something like this: The works of the flesh are adultery, unless you and your wife are not compatible; fornication, unless you are really in love, uncleanness, unless you just dont know any better; witchcraft, unless you were reared in Africa, wrath, unless you have inherited a temper from your parents; drunkenness, unless you are an alcoholic. When we begin making exceptions, we have no definite law or standard at all.
Situation doctrine is also practiced.
Situation doctrine is not a new game, for it has been played from the beginning of man. The rules are declared to be the same as situation ethics. It says that doctrine may vary according to situations. Jesus took note of this tendency among religious leaders.
Sin is sin whether it be in the realm of morals or doctrine.

WORD STUDY 1:4

To deliver (exaireoex i REH oh) is literally to snatch out. It is more than merely to remove; it is to rescue from the power of. The book of Acts provides an excellent commentary on this word, using it in these ways:

The rescue of Joseph from his afflictions, Act. 7:10.

The deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Act. 7:34.

The rescue of Peter from prison, Act. 12:11.

The rescue of Paul from the temple mob, Act. 23:27.

The deliverance of Paul from the Jews, Act. 26:17.

The world (aioni OWN) of this verse should be translated age. The ancient Jews often spoke of two ages: the present age, full of evil and sinfulness, and the future age, full of righteousness and peace. The present age was in the grip of the Evil One, but the age to come was to be ruled by the Messiah.

As Christians, we remain physically a part of the physical world, but spiritually we have become participants of the age to come.

COMMENT 1:5

to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

God is to have all and Paul none, even though he has argued for his apostleship.

Glory means praise, honor, renown, distinction, brilliance and splendor.

If we fail to direct glory to God now, we will not have an opportunity to glorify Him in heaven.

Glory to God(Special exegetical outline)

Because it is commanded.

Ascribe unto Jehovah, ye kindreds of the people, ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength. 1Ch. 16:28.

Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him, all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel. Psa. 22:23.

Let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare his praise in the islands. Isa. 42:12

Because it is due Him. 1Ch. 16:29; 1Co. 6:20

Because of His holiness. Exalt ye Jehovah our God, and worship at his holy hill; For Jehovah our God is holy. Psa. 99:9

Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest. Rev. 15:4

Because of His mercy and truth.

Not unto us, O Jehovah, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy loving-kindness, and for thy truths sake. Psa. 115:1

And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. Rom. 15:9

Because of His faithfulness and truth.

O Jehovah, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things, even counsels of old in faithfulness and truth. Isa. 25:1

Because of His wondrous works.

Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing: and they glorified the God of Israel. Mat. 15:31

For all men glorified God for that which was done. Act. 4:21

Because of His judgments.

Therefore shall a strong people glorify thee, a city of terrible nations shall fear thee. Isa. 25:3

I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her. Eze. 28:22

Fear God, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment is come . . . Rev. 14:7

Because of His deliverance. Psa. 50:15

Because of His grace to others.

And when they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. Act. 11:18

. . . they glorify God . . . for the liberality of your contribution unto them and unto all. 2Co. 9:13

. . . and they glorified God in me. Gal. 1:24

CHILDREN IN THE FAMILY OF GOD 1:5

Christians are to consider themselves as children of God and therefore a part of a great family. We are the people of a God in a unique way through being born again and adopted into His family.
The idea of a people has rich biblical and especially Old Testament roots. Biblical Greek uses the word laos in referring to the church as a people. This word (from which we get laity) occurs more than 2000 times in the Septuagint, usually translating the Hebrew word am. Laos is the word commonly used for Israel as Gods people; it serves to emphasize the special and privileged religious position of this people as the people of God.

In Old Testament, laos is the national society of Israel according to its religious basis and distinction.

In the New Testament, laos occurs some 140 times. It is the word both Paul and Peter use to describe the Church as a people, as the new Israel. Thus in the New Testament, a new and figurative Christian concept arises along with the old biological and historical view and crowds it out.

The Church is constituted a people just as an individual is constituted a child of God; by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The converted individual becomes a part of a transformed people.

STUDY QUESTIONS 1:35

20.

Does the word grace indicate friendliness?

21.

What is the source of peace?

22.

Would Paul have been so friendly to the Gauls if he were not of God?

23.

Discuss what peace from God does for people who love barriers?

24.

What does Gods peace dispel in the human heart?

25.

Name the two sources of peace found in this verse.

26.

The word who refers to whom?

27.

Why did Jesus give Himself?

28.

How does His sacrifice compare with Old Testament sacrifices?

29.

Is it fair to assume that sin is horrible, if Jesus died for our sins?

30.

Did Jesus give Himself, or did men kill Him?

31.

Are all men sinners, or did He die for certain vile people?

32.

Discuss the deliverance stated in verse four.

33.

Why do we need it?

34.

From what are we delivered?

35.

What kind of punishment does the Christian escape?

36.

What evidence do we have that our present generation is evil?

37.

If we escape the punishment, what reward do we have in its place?

38.

Whose will makes it possible?

39.

Is divine will all that is necessary for salvation?

40.

Define glory.

41.

Who is to be glorified?

42.

How long does the glory last?

43.

Why does God deserve glory? Name the reasons.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(3) Grace . . . and peace.See Note on Rom. 1:7.

God the Father.We may see by this verse how the title Father, originally used in the present formula to distinguish between the Divine Persons, came gradually to contract a wider signification. God is, through Christ, the Father of all who by their relation to Christ are admitted into the position of sons (Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 4:5-7). Hence, where no special limitation is imposed by the context, this secondary sense may be taken as included.

And from our Lord Jesus Christ.Strictly, it would be more in accordance with the theology of St. Paul to say that grace and peace were given from the Father, by, or through, the Son. Here the one preposition from is used to cover both cases, just as by had been used in Gal. 1:1. It is equally correct to use the word from with reference to a mediate and to the ultimate stage in the act of procession. Water may be drawn not only from the fountain-head, but also from the running stream.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Grace Though Paul omits the compliment, he does not forget the benediction, brief and rapid though it be. Though he cannot speak the Galatians well, he can wish them well. And the blessings here wished, grace and peace, they much needed.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Grace to you, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’

‘Grace to you.’ Nothing can be more desirable than to have God looking on us and acting towards us in love and favour, and this is what is signified by ‘grace’ (GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense). It speaks of the undeserved saving activity of God in all who believe. Thus Paul wants the Galatians to know that what he desires for them is simply that they enjoy the experience of the grace of God, which does not need to be earned but is freely given.

‘And peace.’ Peace results from grace, but the kind of peace mentioned here is also God’s gift, flowing from Him to us. Once we know that we are right with God, and experience His graciousness towards us, we have peace with God (Rom 5:1), and the result will be that we will be flooded with His peace (Gal 5:22) and enjoy such peace, prosperity and success of spirit that our hearts can only overflow. For the truth is that however much things may seem to smile on us, if God is not pleased with us, we cannot fully know peace. The very foundation then of peace in our hearts is the favour of God, by which we enjoy true and genuine prosperity of spirit through the work of His Spirit, and find the peace of God which passes all understanding guarding our thoughts and hearts (Php 4:7). And it is this that Paul was wishing for, and praying for, for the Galatians.

‘From God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Note how the two are linked together. What a combined source of power and grace and peace we have here. On the one hand we have ‘the Father’, and on the other ‘the Lord’. This continual linking of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father in perfect equality clearly demonstrates Paul’s view of Christ (see 2Co 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Php 1:2 and often, and contrast Col 1:2). Compare when he says we have one God, the Father, — and one Lord, Jesus Christ’ (1Co 8:6). This is especially significant in view of the fact that the description ‘Lord’ (kurios) was the very word used by the Greek translators to render the name of God, YHWH. And Jesus is declared to be both Lord and Christ (Act 2:36). The Jew could say, ‘we have one Lord and one God, the Lord our God, the Lord is One’. Paul agrees. ‘Yes’, he says, ‘we have one God the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, and they are one in fullness and in being.

Paul further confirms this in Php 2:9 when he declares that as ‘Lord’ Jesus has been given ‘the Name that is above every Name’. And there was, in fact, only one Name above every name and that is the Name of YHWH. Thus when used of Jesus the title ‘Lord’ equates with ‘God. That is why he can later speak of ‘our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (Tit 2:13; compare 2Pe 1:1).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Gal 1:3. Grace be to you, &c. These words are both a Christian salutation, and an apostolical benediction. As they are a salutation, they express a wish and desire of the best blessings in behalf of those saluted: whence we may learn, that religion does not abolish and destroy, but spiritualize and improve civility, humanity, and common courtesy. The heathens wished health to their saluted friends; the Jews, peace; that is, all manner of good: but the Christians, grace and peace. Again, the words may be understood as an apostolical and ministerial blessing. The Apostles were the patriarchs of the church of the New Testament; and as a spiritual Father, St. Paul here blesses his children, wishing them first grace, then peace. Peace must be sought after grace, and not expected before it; peace without grace is no peace; there can be no peace with the Creator, no sanctified peace with the creatures, except we are first made partakers of the gracious love and favour of Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Gal 1:3 . ] refers here , according to the context, to the Christians , who through Christ have received the . See Gal 4:26 ff.; Rom 8:15 .

See, further, on Rom 1:7 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Ver. 3. Grace be, &c. ] See Trapp on “ Rom 1:7 “ This Epistle to the Galatians is an epitome of that to the Romans. Peter Martyr observeth that Paul deals more mildly in that Epistle to the Romans than in this to the Galatians; because the Galatians were at first well instructed in the matter of justification, but afterwards did mix other things with Christ; therefore he so sharpens them up, yea, thundereth against them.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3 .] See introductory note on Rom 1:1-7 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Gal 1:3 . The apostolic blessing is here as elsewhere summed up in the comprehensive words grace and peace . These include the lifegiving power of the spirit as well as the assurance of God’s forgiving love in Christ and peace with an accusing conscience. This verse affirms once more the co-operation of the Father with the Son in devising and carrying out the scheme of man’s redemption.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Grace. Greek. charis. App-184.

from. Greek. apo. App-104.

Lord, App-98. Compare Rom 1:7.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3.] See introductory note on Rom 1:1-7.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Gal 1:3

Grace to you-This is a prayer that the favor of God may attend them, with which Paul introduces his letters generally. It is an expression of kindness to the Christians to whom he was writing, and that God would regard them with favor and compassion.

and peace from God the Father,-Reconciliation and harmony with God and with all that are in peace and harmony with him.

and our Lord Jesus Christ,-The mission of Jesus Christ is to bring peace among men in whom he is well pleased. (Luk 2:14). To the faithful Philippians it was promised. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Php 4:7). The harmony, union, and peace with God brings a peace and quietness of mind in the midst of all the trials and disappointments of earth. Just before his violent death on the cross, Jesus said to his sorrowing disciples: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. (Joh 14:27). Jesus had a peace and quiet of soul arising from his union with God and his trust and confidence in him that nothing could disturb. The same he bestowed upon his disciples that their hearts might not be troubled and filled with fear. This peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ lifts the disciples above the trials and disappointments of this life and enables them to abide serenely in all the promises of God. Every Christian may attain this soul-satisfying comfort by an earnest trust in and faithful walk with God.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Grace

Grace (in salvation). Gal 1:6; Gal 1:15; Gal 2:21; Rom 3:24. (See Scofield “Joh 1:17”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Rom 1:7-15, 1Co 1:3, 2Co 1:2, 2Co 13:14, Eph 1:2, Phi 1:2, Col 1:2, 1Th 1:1, 2Th 1:2, 2Jo 1:3

Reciprocal: Joh 14:27 – Peace I leave 2Co 11:31 – God Gal 6:16 – peace 1Ti 1:2 – Grace

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gal 1:3. -Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

The pronoun is placed after on good authority, though A and , with some of the Latin fathers, insert it after , as in other salutations. Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3; 2Co 1:2; Eph 1:2, etc. As in the first verse, so in this verse governs both the genitives, as both are sources of divine blessing, according to the aspect in which each is viewed, primarily indeed from God and proximately from Jesus Christ. This contiguous use of two prepositions, each of them in application both to the Father and to Christ, shows that to the apostle God and Christ were so much one in will and operation (God in Christ), that no sharp dogmatic distinction of origin and medium needed to be drawn between them in such a prayer offered for the churches. See under Gal 1:1.

For the meaning of the benediction, see under Eph 1:2, and also the note of Wieseler. As the West embodied its wishes in , and the East in , H8934-,-so the apostle, in catholic fulness, uses both terms in their profoundest Christian significance: no ordinary greeting, or as the world giveth, but a prayer for all combined and fitting spiritual blessings.

In connection with Christ, and as an unusual addition to his salutations, he now describes His distinctive work in its blessed purpose and in its harmony with the divine plan; for the passing statement presents a truth in direct conflict with the errors prevailing in the Galatian churches. Thus the first and fourth verses contain in brief the two themes of the epistle,-a vindication of his apostleship and of the free and full salvation by faith without works of law, which he rejoiced to proclaim.

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Gal 1:3. This expression of well-wishing occurs at the beginning of every me of Paul’s epistles with the excention of Hebrews. It is not a mere sentimental statement but contains some fundamental truths. Grace is from CHARTS, and one part of Thayer’s definition is, “kindness which bestows unon one what he has not deserved.” This phase of the word explains why the apostle specifies that it is the grace from God he is wishing for his brethren, since all of God’s favors are bestowed upon man only through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is because the sacrifice of Christ provided the way for God to maintain his justice and at the same time extend this unmerited favor to humanity. (See the notes at Rom 3:26, volume 1 of the New Testament Commentary.) Peace is from EIRENE, and the outstanding definition in Thayer’s lexicon is, “peace between individuals, i. e., harmony, concord, security, safety, prosperity.” It is significant that Paul ascribes this favor to God and Christ, for they are the only Beings who can assure it to man in the face of unnumbered difficulties besetting an existence on the earth. And such a favor will be granted only to those who model their lives according to the will of the Lord. Such a life will assure one of being at peace with God, though it may not always have such a result with mankind. (See Rom 12:18.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Gal 1:3. Grace to you and peace. The apostolic salutation combines the Greek charis (grace) and the Hebrew shalom (peace), and infuses into both a deep Christian meaning. Grace comprehends the fulness of the gospel blessing, peace the fulness of our personal enjoyment of it and happiness resulting from it.

From God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father is the direct giver, the Son the mediator, of saving grace and inward peace; but both are here (as in Gal 1:1) so immediately associated that we have a right to infer from this the divinity of our Lord. No mere man could, without blasphemy, be put into such juxtaposition with the infinite Jehovah as a giver of grace and peace.

Gal 1:3 forms a sentence for itself, distinct from the address or inscription in Gal 1:1-2 (comp. note on Rom 1:7). Some ancient authorities read from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

These words are both a Christian salutation, and an apostolical benediction: as they are a salutation, they express a wish and desire of the best blessings towards and on the behalf of them they saluted.

From whence we may learn, that religion doth not abolish and destroy, but spiritualize and improve civility, humanity, and common courtesy. The Heathens wished health to their saluted friends; the Jews, peace; but the Christians, grace and peace.

Again, the words may be understood as an apostolical and ministerial blessing: the apostles were the patriarchs of the church of the New Testament: and as a spiritual father, St. Paul here blesses his children, wishing them first grace, then peace: Peace must be sought after grace; and not expected before it. Peace without grace is no peace. There can be no peace with the Creator, no sanctified peace with the creatures, except through Jesus Christ we are first made partakers of the gracious love and favour of Almighty God. Accordingly, says the apostle here, Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Where note, that grace and peace may be said to be from the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, these two ways:

1. Efficiently, as the authors and causes of both: God the Father is the author of all grace, as he did decree it; and Christ, as he did purchase it.

2. Objectively; that is, this grace and love in God the Father, and this peace and satisfaction that is in Jesus Christ the more they are by faith apprehended by us, the more are they increased in us, and upon us.

Learn from the whole, that the holiest and best of Christians here on earth, stand in manifest need of fuller supplies and farther additions both of grace and peace to be daily communicated to them, and enjoyed by them; Grace be to you, and peace.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ [see 1Co 1:3 and note]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Grace [be] to you and peace from God the Father, and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ,

The term translated “grace” is the normal term for grace, but many limit it to mean something that is given that is not deserved, and that is a good definition when used of Salvation and a gift, but this is a much broader term. It is Strong’s number 5485 if you’d like to look it up for the complete listing. It can mean that which gives pleasure, joy sweetness, charm and delight.

The term here that is translated “peace” has the thought of the lack of turmoil – turmoil of war, of strife of argument, thus we might surmise that there were some heavy feelings about this teaching that Paul is about to embark upon.

Years ago we were in a situation where we were asked to take on a certain ministry. We began getting advice from some, while others started telling us what to do. We had our own ideas that did not relate to what we were being told.

We were in great turmoil as we knew what God had laid on our hearts, but yet the church people were telling us to do differently. We discussed the situation and of course decided to follow the Lord’s leading.

We braced for the fire storm – which never developed – no person came to us to confront us or give further advice – what peace we had knowing that God had given us the ideas and that He had provided the peace to face what would come – even though nothing came – peace – that which the believer needs to find in God rather than the dictates of man.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

The greeting Paul wrote in most of his epistles was a combination of the commonly used Greek (charis, grace) and the Jewish (shalom, peace) salutations. The former in the Christian context refers to God’s undeserved favor that is the portion of His children. Galatians opens, closes (cf. Gal 6:18), and is full of grace (Gal 1:6; Gal 1:15; Gal 2:9; Gal 2:21; Gal 3:18; Gal 5:4). The actual Greek word is chairein, which means, "rejoice," but this standard Greek greeting meant the equivalent of "hello."

"When Paul prays for grace on his friends, it is as if he said, ’May the beauty of the wonder of the undeserved love of God be on you, so that it will make your life lovely too.’" [Note: William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, p. 8.]

The second word of greeting, peace, defines not just the absence of hostility but the totality of God’s blessings. This word had become a standard Jewish greeting. Believers enjoy peace with God and with other people because God has taken the initiative in extending His grace to us in Christ (cf. Num 6:24-26). Peace always follows grace in Paul’s salutations because that is their logical and temporal order. The three-fold title "Lord Jesus Christ" indicates His exalted rank, His saving significance, and His divine commission respectively. [Note: Fung, p. 39.]

Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins in two respects. He gave Himself all through His earthly ministry as the Suffering Servant of God (cf. Isaiah 53), and He gave Himself as the final sin offering on the cross. Both aspects of His self-sacrifice could be in view here. Paul probably wanted to emphasize the totality of Christ’s self-sacrifice.

The purpose of the Lord’s self-sacrifice was that He might deliver us out of the control of this present evil age, the world system that dominates the inter-advent era. In contrast, the age to come (cf. Eph 1:21) is the era in which righteousness dwells when Jesus Christ and later God the Father will rule directly (i.e., the messianic kingdom and the new heavens and earth).

We are in the world, but we are free to live apart from the evil that dominates it thanks to Christ’s work for us. Not only so, the Lord will remove us from it by death or translation. Again, both aspects of our deliverance were probably in Paul’s mind as he wrote these words. Christ’s death transferred the believer from Satan’s power to God’s power, from one sphere to the other (cf. Col 1:13).

"In this one verse Paul has described several aspects of the redemption wrought by Christ: its cause (’for our sins,’ that is, because of them), its means (Christ ’sacrificed himself’), its purpose and effect (’for our sins,’ that is, for their expiation; ’to rescue us’), and its origin (’the will of our God and Father’). Thereby Paul has in fact touched on the chief argument of the letter, and succinctly announced in anticipatory fashion the main contents of its doctrinal section, inasmuch as the point of the controversy between Paul and His Galatian opponents lies precisely in the significance of Christ and his redemptive work and more specifically in the bearing of this work on the law." [Note: Ibid., p. 42. Cf. Herman Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia, p. 43; and E. de W. Burton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, p. 14.]

"Another feature of this salutation is the extended description of the writer. . . . It conveys at once the impression of authority, which underlies the subsequent argument throughout the epistle." [Note: Guthrie, Galatians, p. 56.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 2

THE SALUTATION.

Gal 1:3-5

THE greetings and benedictions of the Apostolic Letters deserve more attention from us than they sometimes receive. We are apt to pass over them as if they were a kind of pious formality, like the conventional phrases of our own epistles. But to treat them in such fashion is to do injustice to the seriousness and sincerity of Holy Scripture. This salutation of “Grace and Peace” comes from Pauls very heart. It breathes the essence of his gospel.

This formula appears to be of the Apostles coining. Other writers, we may believe, borrowed it from him. Grace represents the common Greek salutation, – joy to you, changing to the kindred ; while the more religious peace of the Hebrew, so often heard from the lips of Jesus, remains unaltered, only receiving from the New Covenant a tenderer significance. It is as though East and West, the old world and the new, met here and joined their voices to bless the Church and people of Jesus Christ.

Grace is the sum of all blessing bestowed by God; peace, in its wide Hebraic range of meaning, the sum of all blessing experienced by man. Grace is the Fathers good will and bounty in Christ to His undeserving children; peace, the rest and reconcilement, the recovered health and gladness of the child brought home to the Fathers house, dwelling in the light of his Fathers face. Grace is the fountain of redeeming love; peace is the “river of life proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb,” that flows calm and deep through each believing soul, the river whose “streams make glad the city of God.”

What could a pastor wish better for his people, or friend for the friend he loves most, than this double blessing? Pauls letters are perfumed with its fragrance. Open them where you will, they are breathing out, “Grace to you and peace.” Paul has hard things to write in this Epistle, sorrowful complaints to make, grievous errors to correct; but still with “Grace and peace” he begins, and with “Peace and grace” he will end! And so this stern and reproachful letter to these “foolish Galatians” is all embalmed and folded up in grace and peace. That is the way to “be angry and sin not.” So mercy rejoices over judgment.

These two benedictions, we must remember, go together. Peace comes through grace. The proud heart never knows peace; it will not yield to God the glory of His grace. It scorns to be a debtor, even to Him. The proud man stands upon his rights, upon his merits. And he will have them; for God is just. But peace is not amongst them. No sinful child of man deserves that. Is there wrong between your soul and God, iniquity hidden in the heart? Till that wrong is confessed, till you submit to the Almighty and your spirit bows at the Redeemers cross, “what hast thou to do with peace?” No peace in this world, or in any world, for him who will not be at peace with God. “When I kept silence,” so the ancient confession runs, {Psa 32:3-5} “my bones waxed old through my moaning all the day long”-that is why many a man is old before his time! because of this continual inward chafing, this secret, miserable war of the heart against God. “Day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer”-the soul withered like grass, all the freshness and pure delight of life wasted and perishing under the steady, unrelenting heat of the Divine displeasure. “Then I said”-I could bear it no longer-“I said, I will confess my transgression unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” And then peace came to the weary soul. The bitterness and hardness of life were gone; the heart was young again. The man was new born, a child of God.

But while Paul gives this salutation to all his Churches, his greeting is extended and qualified here in a peculiar manner. The Galatians were falling away from faith in Christ to Jewish ritualism. He does not therefore wish them “Grace and peace” in a general way, or as objects to be sought from any quarter or by any means that they might choose; but only “from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins.” Here is already a note of warning and a tacit contradiction of much that they were tempted to believe. It would have been a mockery for the Apostle to desire for these fickle Galatians grace and peace on other terms. As at Corinth, so in Galatia, he is “determined to know nothing save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Above the puerilities of their Jewish ritual, above the pettiness of their wrangling factions, he directs his readers gaze once more to the sacrifice of Calvary and the sublime purpose of God which it reveals.

Do we not need to be recalled to the same sight? We live in a distracted and distracting age. Even without positive unbelief, the cross is too frequently thrust out of view by the hurry and press of modern life. Nay, in the Church itself is it not in danger of being practically set on one side, amidst the throng of competing interests which solicit, and many of them justly solicit, our attention? We visit Calvary too seldom. We do not haunt in our thoughts the sacred spot, and linger on this theme, as the old saints did. We fail to attain “the fellowship of Christs sufferings”; and while the cross is outwardly exalted, its inward meaning is perhaps but faintly realised. “Tell us something new,” they say; “that story of the cross, that evangelical doctrine of yours, we have heard it so often, we know it all so well!” If men are saying this, if the cross of Christ is made of none effect, its message staled by repetition, we must be strangely at fault either in the hearing or the telling. Ah, if we knew the cross of Christ, it would crucify us; it would possess our being. Its supremacy can never be taken from it. That cross is still the centre of the worlds hope, the pillar of salvation. Let the Church lose her hold of it, and she loses everything. She has no longer any reason to exist.

1. So the Apostles greeting invites his readers to contemplate anew the Divine gift bestowed upon sinful men. It invokes blessing upon them “from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins.”

To see this gift in its greatness, let us go a little farther back; let us consider who the Christ is that thus “gives Himself.” He is, we are taught, the almoner of all the Divine bounties. He is not the object alone, but the depository and dispenser of the Fathers good pleasure to all worlds and all creatures. Creation is rooted in “the Son of Gods love”. {Col 1:15-18} Universal life has its fountain in “the Only-begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father.” The light that dispelled the weltering gloom of chaos, the more wondrous light that shone in the dawn of human reason, came from this “outbeaming of the Fathers glory.” Countless gifts had He, “the life of men, the Word that was from the beginning,” bestowed on a world that knew Him not. Upon the chosen race, the people whom on the worlds behalf he formed for Himself, He showered His blessings. He had given them promise and law, prophet and priest and king, gifts of faith and hope, holy obedience and brave patience and deep wisdom and prophetic fire and heavenly rapture; and His gifts to them have come through them to us, “partakers with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”

But now, to crown all, He gave Himself! “The Word became flesh.” The Son of God planted Himself into the stock of human life, made Himself over to mankind; He became the Son of man. So in the fulness of time came the fulness of blessing. Earlier bestowments were instalments and prophecies of this; later gifts are its outcome and its application. What could He have done more than this? What could the Infinite God do more, even for the most worthy, than He has done for us in” sending His Son, the Only-begotten, that we might live through Him!” Giving us Him, surely He will give us grace and peace.

And if our Lord Jesus Christ “gave Himself,” is not that sufficient? What could Jewish ritual and circumcision add to this “fulness of the Godhead”? Why hunt after the shadows, when one has the substance? Such were the questions which the Apostle has to ask his Judaising readers. And what, pray, do we want with modern Ritualism, and its scenic apparatus, and its priestly offices? Are these things designed to eke out the insufficiency of Christ? Will they recommend Him better than His own gospel and the pure influence of His Spirit avail to do in these latter days? Or have modern thought, to be sure, and the progress of the nineteenth century carried us beyond Jesus Christ, and created spiritual wants for which He has no supply? Paul at least had no anticipation of this failure. All the need of hungry human hearts and searching minds and sorrowing spirits, to the worlds latest ages, the God of Paul, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is able to supply in Him. “We are complete in Him,”-if we but knew our completeness. The most advanced thinkers of the age will still find Jesus Christ in advance of them. Those who draw the most largely from His fulness leave its depths unsounded. There are resources stored for the times to come in the revelation of Christ, which our age is too slight, too hasty of thought, to comprehend. We are straitened in ourselves; never in Him.

From this supreme gift we can argue down to the humblest necessities, the commonest trials of our daily lot. It adapts itself to the small anxieties of a struggling household, equally with the largest demands of our exacting age. “Thou hast given us Thy Son,” says some one, “and wilt Thou not give us bread?” We have a generous Lord. His only complaint is that we do not ask enough. “Ye are My friends,” He says: “I have given My life for you. Ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Giving us Himself, He has given us all things. Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah, “Paul and Apollos and Cephas-yea the world itself, life and death, things present and to come-all are ours; and we are Christs and Christ is Gods.” {1Co 3:22-23} Such is the chain of blessing that hangs on this single gift.

Great as the gift is, it is not greater than our need. Wanting a Divine Son of man, human life remains a baffled aspiration, a pathway leading to no goal.

Lacking Him, the race is incomplete, a body without its head, a flock that has no master. By the coming of Christ in the flesh human life finds its ideal realised; its haunting dream of a Divine helper and leader in the midst of men, of a spiritual and immortal. perfection brought within its reach, has attained fulfilment. “God hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.” Jacobs vision has come true. There is the golden ladder, with its foot resting on the cold, stony earth, and its top on heavens starry platform, with its angels ascending and descending through the darkness; and you may climb its steps, high as you will! So humanity receives its crown of life. Heaven and earth are linked, God and man reunited in the person of Jesus Christ.

But Paul will not suffer us to linger at Bethlehem. He hastens on to Calvary. The Atonement, not the Incarnation, is in his view the centre of Christianity. To the cross of Jesus, rather than to His cradle, he attaches our salvation. “Jesus Christ gave Himself”-what for, and in what way? What was the errand that brought Him here, in such a guise, and at such a time? Was it to meet our need, to fulfil our human aspirations, to crown the moral edifice, to lead the race onward to the goal of its development? Yes-ultimately, and in the final issue, for “as many as receive Him”; it was to “present every man perfect in Christ.” But that was not the primary object of His coming, of such a coming. Happy for us indeed, and for Him, if it could have been so. To come to a world waiting for Him, hearkening for the cry, “Behold thy God, O Israel,” would have been a pleasant and a fitting thing. But to find Himself rejected by His own, to be spit upon, to hear the multitude shout, “Away with Him!” was this the welcome that he looked for? Yea surely, nothing else but this. For He gave Himself for our sins. He came to a world steeped in wickedness, seething with rebellion against God, hating Him because it hated the Father that sent Him, Sure to say as soon as it saw Him, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” Not therefore by way of incarnation and revelation alone, as it might have been for an innocent race; but by way of sacrifice, as a victim on the altar of expiation, “a lamb led to the slaughter,” He gave Himself up for us all. “To deliver us from an evil world,” says the Apostle; to mend a faulty and imperfect world, something less and other would have sufficed.

Extreme diseases call for extreme remedies. The case with which our good Physician had to deal was a desperate one. The world was sick at heart; its moral nature rotten to the core. Human life was shattered to its foundation. If it was to be saved, if the race was to escape perdition, the fabric must be reconstructed upon another basis, on the ground of a new righteousness, outside ourselves and yet akin to us, near enough to take hold of us and grow into us, which should draw to itself the broken elements of human life, and as a vital organic force refashion them, “creating men anew in Christ Jesus”-a righteousness availing before God, and in its depth and width sufficient to bear a worlds weight. Such a new foundation Jesus Christ has laid in His death. “He laid down His life for us,” the Shepherd for the sheep, the Friend for His perishing friends, the Physician for sufferers who had no other remedy. It had come to this, -either He must die, or we must die for ever. Such was the sentence of the All-wise Judge; on that judgment the Redeemer acted. “His judgments are a great deep”; and in this sentence there are depths of mystery into which we tremble to look, “secret things that belong unto the Lord our God.” But so it was. There was no way but this, no moral possibility of saving the world, and yet saving Him the accursed death.

If there had been, would not the Almighty Father have found it out? would He not have “taken away the cup” from those white, quivering lips? No; He must die. He must consent to be “made sin, made a curse” for us. He must humble His stainless innocence, humble His glorious Godhead down to the dust of death. He must die, at the hands of the men He created and loved, with the horror of the worlds sin fastened on Him; die under a blackened heaven, under the averting of the Fathers face. And He did it. He said, “Father, Thy will be done. Smite the Shepherd; but let the sheep escape.” So He “gave Himself for our sins.”

Ah, it was no easy march, no holiday pageant, the coming of the Son of God into this world of ours. He “came to save sinners.” Not to help good men-this were a grateful task; but to redeem bad men-the hardest work in Gods universe. It tasked the strength and the devotion of the Son of God. Witness Gethsemane. And it will cost His Church something, more haply than we dream of now, if the work of the Redeemer is to be made effectual, and “the travail of His soul satisfied.”

In pity and in sorrow was that gift bestowed; in deep humility and sorrow must it be accepted. It is a very humbling thing to “receive the atonement,” to be made righteous on such terms as these. A man who has done well can with satisfaction accept the help given him to do better. But to know that one has done very ill, to stand in the sight of God and truth condemned, marked with the disgrace that the crucifixion of the Son of God has branded on our human nature, with every stain of sin in ourselves revealed in the light of His sacrifice, is a sore abasement. When one has been compelled to cry out, “Lord, save; or I perish!” he has not much left to plume himself upon. There was Saul himself, a perfect moralist, “blameless in the righteousness of the law.” Yet he must confess, “How to perform that which is good I find not. In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Wretch that I am, who shall deliver me?” Was not this mortifying to the proud young Pharisee, the man of strict conscience and high-souled moral endeavour? It was like death. And whoever has with sincerity made tile same attempt to attain in the strength of his will to a true virtue, has tasted of this bitterness.

This, however, is what many cannot understand. The proud heart says, “No; I will not stoop to that. I have my faults, my defects and errors, not a few. But as for what you call sin, as for guilt and inborn depravity, I am not going to tax myself with anything of the kind. Leave me a little self-respect.” So with the whole herd of the self-complacent, half-religious Laodiceans. Once a week they confess themselves “miserable sinners,” but their sins against God never yet cost them one half hour of misery. And Pauls “gospel is hid to them.” If they read this Epistle, they cannot tell what it is all about; why Paul makes so much ado, why these, thunderings of judgment, these cries of indignation, these beseechings and protestings and redoubled arguments, -all because a parcel of foolish Galatians wanted to play at being Jews! They are inclined to think with Festus, that this good Paul was a little beside himself. Alas! to such men, content with the worlds good opinion and their own, the death of Christ is made of none effect. Its moral grandeur, its infinite pathos, is lost upon them. They pay it a conventional respect, but as for believing in it, as for making it their own, and dying with Christ to live in Him-they have no idea what it means. That, they will tell you, is “mysticism,” and they are practical men of the world. They have never gone out of themselves, never discovered their moral insufficiency. These are they of whom Jesus said, “The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” It is our human independence, our moral self-conceit, that robs us of the Divine bounty. How should God give His righteousness to men so well furnished with their own? “Blessed” then “are the poor in spirit”; blessed are the broken in heart-poor enough, broken enough, bankrupt enough to stoop to a Saviour “who gave Himself for our sins.”

2. Sinful men have made an evil world. The world, as Paul knew it, was evil indeed. “The existing evil age,” he says, the world as it then was, in contrast with the glory of the perfected Messianic kingdom.

This was a leading distinction of the rabbinical schools; and the writers of the New Testament adopt it, with the necessary modification, that “the coming age,” in their view, commences with the Parousia, the full advent of the Messiah King. The period that intervenes since His first appearing is transitional, belonging to both eras. It is the conclusion of “this world,” to which it appertains in its outward and material relations; but under the perishing form of the present there lies hidden for the Christian believer the seed of immortality, “the earnest” of his future and complete inheritance. Hence the different and seemingly contradictory ways in which Scripture speaks of the world that now is.

To Paul at this time the world wore its darkest aspect. There is a touching emphasis in the order of this clause. “The present world, evil as it is”: the words are a sigh for deliverance. The Epistles to Corinth show us how the world just now was using the Apostle. The wonder is that one man could bear so much. “We are made as the filth of the world,” he says, “the offscouring of all things.” So the world treated its greatest living benefactor. And as for his Master-“the princes of this world crucified the Lord of glory.” Yes, it was a bad old world, that in which Paul and the Galatians lived-false, licentious, cruel. And that “evil world” still exists.

True, the world, as we know it, is vastly better than that of Pauls day. Not in vain have Apostles taught, and martyrs bled, and the Church of Christ witnessed and toiled through so many ages. “Other men have laboured; we enter into their labours.” An English home of today is the flower of the centuries. To those cradled in its pure affections, endowed with health and honourable work and refined tastes, the world must be, and was meant to be, in many aspects a bright and pleasant world. Surely the most sorrowful have known days in which the sky was all sunshine and the very air alive with joy, when the world looked as when it came forth fresh from its Creators hand, “and behold, it was very good.” There is nothing in the Bible, nothing in the spirit of true religion to damp the pure joy of such days as these. But there are “the days of darkness”; and they are many. The Serpent has crept into our Paradise. Death breathes on it his fatal blast.

And when we look outside the sheltered circles of home-life and Christian brotherhood, what a sea of misery spreads around us. How limited and partial is the influence of religion. What a mass of unbelief and godlessness surges up to the doors of our sanctuaries. What appalling depths of iniquity exist in modern society, under the brilliant surface of our material civilisation. And however far the dominance of sin in human society may be broken-as, please God, it shall be broken-still evil is likely to remain in many tempting and perilous forms until the world is burnt to ashes in the fires of the Last Judgment. Is it not an evil world, where every morning newspaper serves up to us its miserable tale of disaster and of crime, where the Almightys name is “all the day blasphemed,” and every night drunkenness holds its horrid revels and the daughters of shame walk the city streets, where great Christian empires tax the poor mans bread and make his life bitter to maintain their huge standing armies and their cruel engines of war, and where, in this happy England and its cities teeming with wealth, there are thousands of patient, honest working women, whose life under the fierce stress of competition is a veritable slavery, a squalid, dreary struggle just to keep hunger from the door? Aye. it is a world so evil that no good and right-thinking man who knows it would care to live in it for a single day, but for the hope of helping to make it better.

Now it was the purpose of Jesus Christ, that for those who believe in Him this worlds evil should be brought absolutely to an end. He promises a full deliverance from all that tempts and afflicts us here. With sin, the root of evil, removed, its bitter fruits at last will disappear. We shall rise to the life immortal. We shall attain our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul. Kept from the evil of the world while they remain in it, enabled by His grace to witness and contend against it, Christs servants shall then be lifted clean out of it for ever. “Father, I will,” prayed Jesus, “that they also whom Thou hast given Me, may be with Me where I am.” To that final salvation, accomplished in the redemption of our body and the setting up of Christs heavenly kingdom, the Apostles words look forward: “that He might deliver us out of this present world.” This was the splendid hope which Paul offered to the dying and despairing world of his day. The Galatians were persuaded of it and embraced it; he entreats them not to let it go.

The self-sacrifice of Christ, and the deliverance it brings, are both, the Apostle concludes, “according to the will of God, even our Father.” The wisdom and might of the Eternal are pledged to the work of human redemption. The cross of Jesus Christ is the manifesto, of Infinite Love. Let him therefore who rejects it, know against Whom he is contending. Let him who perverts and falsifies it, know with what he is trifling. He who receives and obeys it, may rest assured that all things are working for his good. For all things are in the hands of our God and Father; “to Whom,” let us say with Paul, “be glory for ever. Amen.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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